Salaries went up for some Park County employees but not as much as requested for certain elected officials — and not for everyone.

Pat Meyer, county assessor, requested the salary increases at a recent commissioners meeting. Although they agreed to raise salaries for some elected officials, Park County commissioners did not raise them as much as requested — and they declined to increase their own salaries.

Meyer addressed the commissioners at a meeting in early May, pointing out they are mandated to set county employees’ salaries annually, even if they decide not to increase them. The assessor said Park County’s salaries are comparable to some counties in Wyoming, but he noted some metropolitan areas offer considerably higher salaries to attract top-level talent. 

“We were well behind,” Meyer said.

In 2018, the average statewide salaries for clerk, assessor, treasurer and clerk of the courts was $85,000. That was  considerably higher for those positions than Park County offered at the time.

In 2018, for example, those same local positions were raised from about $75,000 to $80,000 four years ago.

“I took it upon myself,” Meyer said, candidly explaining why he approached the commission about raising salaries for elected officials. “I really wanted to steer the commissioners, give them something” to base their decisions on.

“I really based it on inflation,” he said.

With property values “skyrocketing,” as he put it, Meyer said the Wyoming Legislature recently gave counties throughout the state the option to raise salaries over a four-year period in a “stepped” manner. That approach would entail approving salary increases over four years, but doing so in one-year increments.

“Once this is set it cannot be changed,” said Commission Chairman Dossie Overfield, alluding to the four-year approach.

“I think we’ve got to do it,” Commissioner Joe Tilden said about raising salaries. “Park County lags behind. The private sector has rebounded faster [economically] from COVID than the public sector.”

The current average 2021 salary for Park County’s top elected officials was $83,000 compared to $88,000 statewide, according to Meyer.

The commissioners discussed and voted on salary increase recommendations for each top elected position. With the exception of the county attorney’s salary, most of the increases fell short of Meyer’s recommendations.

Tilden, who is not running for reelection, recommended increasing salaries of county commissioners from about $36,000 a year to $41,000, still below the proposed increase to $42,292.

“We never voted ourselves an increase for political reasons, primarily,” Tilden said.

However, the majority of commissioners opposed giving themselves raises. Commissioner Lloyd Thiel was particularly adamant that commissioners not receive salary increases. Instead, Thiel emphasized the importance of giving raises to employees at the lower end of the county payroll.

No motion was made to increase commissioners’ salaries. Consequently, Chairman Overfield stated commissioners’ salaries will remain at $36,174.38.

Commissioners did increase salaries of other elected officials. The treasurer’s salary was raised from $81,416.70 in 2021 to $94,000 in 2022 after a 4-1 commission vote. 

In addition, salaries of the county assessor, clerk, and clerk of the district court — each listed at  $81,416.70 in 2021 — increased to $94,000 in 2022, with commissioners voting 4-1 to approve the raises. Thiel opposed the motion to increase salaries for the county treasurer, assessor, clerk and court clerk.

Although Meyer recommended the sheriff’s salary be raised from $83,416.69 in 2021 to $99,375, commissioners voted 4-1 to raise the Park County Sheriff’s 2022 salary to $94,000. Commissioner Thiel opposed the increase.

The county attorney’s salary was raised to $115,000 from $97,416.74 in 2021, after Commissioner Scott Mangold made a motion to do so. After the motion was seconded by Tilden, commissioners voted 4-1 to increase the county attorney’s salary, with Thiel again opposing.

As a side note, Mangold’s 2021 salary was listed as $15,072.70 compared to $36,174 for other commissioners, according to public records. 

The county coroner’s salary also increased by a commission vote of 4-1, with Thiel opposing. The coroner’s salary increased from $40,000.08 in 2021 to $44,000 in 2022, after the commission opposed raising the coroner’s salary to $46,765, as recommended by Meyer.